Chapter 345
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Celestial Realm Mishap
“If we eliminate the Vermilion Bird, our future steps will surely be smooth sailing.”
It felt suspicious that we were opting for an indirect fight instead of taking him down ourselves, but choosing to fight difficult battles on purpose would just be plain foolishness. I turned to Mangnyang.
“Are you really alright? The Vermilion Bird is your father.”
“He is just a demon who has fallen into the Demon Path. If I can’t forget the trivial bonds of blood, countless innocent lives will be lost because of it,” Mangnyang replied gravely.
“You saw it, didn’t you? The millions of people driven mad, becoming fodder for the Old Ruler…”
“……”
I hadn’t seen it firsthand, but it must have unfolded that way. The emergence of the ruler of the Demon Subduing Hall indicated he’d accepted an offering, and at that moment, the ruler’s power likely spread across four cities, unleashing a hellish nightmare that was synonymous with destruction.
Somehow, I needed to stop the Vermilion Bird. I nodded to Mangnyang.
“Then I’ll prepare to do so.”
“Ah, Baek Woong,” Mangnyang said, seemingly remembering something.
“Before taking the Thunder God Lineage, meet with the Zhuge Clan and have him deliver the firearms to the North Dragon Troops.”
“Oh, that was a thing, huh?” I promptly made my way to the Zhuge Clan, who was muttering something near the Crystal Stele, yet strangely enough, the firearms he should have created were nowhere to be seen. Sensing my presence, Zhuge Sa spoke brusquely.
“What do you want?”
“I came to pick up the firearms. I’ll be hauling them to Liaodong City.”
“Oh, that thing?”
“Where are the guns? I can’t see them.”
Zhuge Sa snapped his fingers.
Rumble…
From thin air, thousands of firearms plummeted down. Recognizing each one as the latest weaponry possessed by the foreigners, I felt an odd thrill. As I picked one up for a closer inspection, Zhuge Sa said,
“Hurry up and take them. I have things to do right now.”
“What things?”
“Why would I tell you? Are you going to help?”
“If I can help, I’ll gladly do so.”
Zhuge Sa glanced at me and said,
“Get out of my sight.”
“…Your personality is something else, isn’t it? Do you really have to say it like that?”
“So what? What do you want?”
As Zhuge Sa irritably replied, I said,
“Could you teach me an easier way to draw out the Spirit using the Soul Exchange Technique?”
“Ah, you were training the basics, right?”
“I’ve trained enough now; I was hoping you’d go easier on me.”
With an unimpressed look, Zhuge Sa retorted,
“Try drawing it out.”
Swish!
What Zhuge Sa tossed was a fluffy little puppy. The puppy, whether raised by humans or not, stared at me without trying to bite or bark. I looked at it, reaching out to touch its forehead.
And then it happened.
Whoa!
The puppy suddenly lunged at my hand to bite, but I dodged, and it leaped right back to Zhuge Sa’s arms. He cradled the puppy and petted its head, scolding,
“Oh, you silly creature. Can’t you do that?”
I was perplexed, unable to comprehend what just happened.
“Why didn’t it show any killing intent?”
“Because you clumsily tried to touch its Spirit, it triggered its defense instinct.”
“But why are you having me extract a Spirit from a puppy, of all things?”
“If you can’t handle a little puppy, how will you deal with a person?”
“Your logic is…!”
Just then, the puppy that was being petted by Zhuge Sa suddenly looked at me and spoke in a human voice.
“You’re doing well.”
“What?!”
I couldn’t help but be surprised. A puppy talking in Zhuge Sa’s voice? How was that even possible? Zhuge Sa chuckled and said,
“This is the Soul Exchange Technique. I reckon you’ll need at least three more years to properly grasp the basics.”
“Ugh…”
“To be specific, assess the opponent as a condensed form of their Spirit. If you have the eye for it, that’s great, but if not, just keep training like your life depends on it to improve your sucking ability.”
In other words, I needed to train a lot more. After pondering Zhuge Sa’s words, I replied,
“Understood.”
As I departed from Zhuge Sa, I took one last glance at him. He seemed to enjoy playing with the puppy, seemingly unaffected by my exit. It was hard to believe that someone capable of killing people like it was a game, and even casually dispatching his own kin, could have such affection for animals.
So, he likes animals but hates people, huh? It’s still hard to grasp.
I gathered the firearms and stuffed them into my Wooden Armor before making my way to Liaodong City, where I handed thousands of arms to General Hwang Yeon.
Accepting them in astonishment, General Hwang Yeon exclaimed,
“Incredible! I’ve never seen military weaponry this advanced before!”
“Does it suit your taste?”
“This weapon will definitely change the tide of battle.”
“Glad to hear that.”
Just as I was about to leave General Hwang Yeon and head back to Jinrang Valley, the lord of Liaodong City, who had been accompanying him, spoke up.
“Wait a minute. The elder asks you to halt…”
“Huh? Elder?”
Swoosh!
At that moment, someone appeared out of nowhere. I felt goosebumps, having sensed no presence from him.
The man had a unique look, donning an outfit that wasn’t reminiscent of Goryeo but didn’t quite feel like it belonged to the Central Plains either. He was an unusually handsome guy still so pale, he looked like he could collapse at any moment. Yet, he was tall enough to leave people thinking ‘This is peculiar.’
Immediately recognizing, I recalled having laid eyes on him before.
‘Yun Sa!’
One of the Three Masters serving the Master of the Twelve Joules!
I had heard he possessed remarkable magical abilities, having let me enter the village with the Sacred Altar Tree in the past. Yun Sa glanced at me and spoke,
“A bad omen.”
With that, Yun Sa extended a hand towards me.
“Young one, offer me something of value. Then I shall reveal how to avert that bad omen with foresight.”
“……”
I hesitated at this unexpected proposal. Normally I’d reject such offers, but then again, he might be on par with the Dharma Guardian, being a grand sorcerer in direct service to the Twelve Joules. It wasn’t typical for such a person to sense a bad omen and offer to deliver a prediction.
That said, I was genuinely reluctant to part with something valuable.
‘Oh well, can’t lose what I don’t have.’
I fumbled to pull the Sacred Lotus from my bag and handed it over. Yun Sa glanced at it briefly and shook his head,
“This isn’t enough; the divine aura is weak. Something else.”
I then retrieved the Black and White Lotus.
“Better than before, but still insufficient to dispel your bad omen.”
Stunned that this wasn’t enough, I thought of other valuable items in my Wooden Armor, eventually pulling out a foreigner without even considering it.
“What the!!!!!”
Oh no.
As soon as the foreigner appeared, he looked startled and seemed to search for his weapon. I quickly subdued him, forcing him to kneel. General Hwang Yeon and the lord of Liaodong City had already drawn their swords. Embarrassed, I said,
“I’m sorry! I’ll put him back!”
“Is that a foreigner?”
“Yeah.”
General Hwang Yeon, taking an interest in the foreigner, said,
“Let’s hear him talk. I know a bit of the Western tongue; I think I can guess where he’s from.”
“Uh…”
I loosened the foreigner’s restraints. He began yelling what sounded like an outrage, and it was obvious that most of it was swearing. After observing the foreigner vent for a while, General Hwang Yeon stated,
“So he’s not one of the Holland’s fiends; he seems to have traveled quite far… hmm…”
As he assessed the foreigner’s attire and looks with intrigue, General Hwang Yeon exclaimed,
“Aha!”
“Who are you?”
Pointing at the strange emblem on the foreigner’s chest, General Hwang Yeon cried,
“I remember this insignia! It’s definitely from the Great Ming Empire! Didn’t we have envoys from that huge kingdom before?”
“The Great Ming Empire? You’re saying it’s a nation enormous enough to call itself an empire?”
“Well, I wouldn’t know. In any case, it’s a ridiculously distant land.”
An empire, huh? I’d only ever seen empires in reference to the Great Ming Empire. I’ve heard there’s such an empire in that faraway Tianzhu, but I never had a reason to go there. Suddenly, there was a Western nation proclaiming itself an empire, which left me completely startled.
‘They must be a massive territory, then.’
General Hwang Yeon continued,
“From what I’ve heard, it’s said to be the strongest kingdom in the West. How did you capture him?”
I recounted the tale of how I wiped out the Western troops that were massacring the indigenous people on the Southern Continent. After listening, General Hwang Yeon stroked his chin and remarked,
“It seems the Western nations are waging conquest wars based on the advanced sailing technology from Joseon. At this rate, they will soon reach the Ming Empire.”
“Didn’t Zheng He embark on expeditions in the past?”
“Well… The technology of these foreigners seems to be worlds apart.”
As he twirled one of the firearms I had given him earlier, General Hwang Yeon added,
“With 3,000 elite from the North Dragon Troops armed with these firearms, they could easily annihilate ten times their number in less than half a day. If the cavalry is skilled enough to operate with these firearms, they could double that effect. This weapon could be historical.”
“……”
“If soldiers armed with such weapons come in thousands, the current military strength of the Ming Empire wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“But doesn’t the Ming Empire also have firearms?”
General Hwang Yeon shook his head.
“Traditionally, firearm technology develops much slower than artillery technology. Based on our predictions of their artillery capabilities, they’d obliterate anything at sea. Once they dominate the waters, we’d be utterly defenseless.”
“Hmm…”
“I’m truly worried about this country’s fate…”
General Hwang Yeon sighed, seeming genuinely forlorn. I quickly stuffed the foreigner back into my Wooden Armor and asked,
“Yun Sa, how about I offer this?”
I laid out the Sacred Lotus, Black and White Lotus, Gold Bar, and even the statue of Jeon Wook from the Three Sovereigns. Yun Sa glanced at the items and assessed their worth.
“Just go.”
“Huh?”
“It seems our fates are not intertwined today.”
Poof!
As soon as Yun Sa finished speaking, he vanished from the spot. I tilted my head in confusion and headed towards Seven Kills Village.
‘What did he mean by that?’
I had heard the Master’s abilities were on par with the Dharma Guardian yet he just blabbers nonsense?
I shook off my negative thoughts, took out a black talisman, and handed it to the village chief of Seven Kills Village.
As I proceeded onward, I eventually reached the dense rainforest of Dark Heaven Village via the White Tree. I could then see the Old Ruler, who possessed the powers of reversal, right where I had seen him before.
[Welcome… a special visitor has graced the land of dream and illusion…]
As I knelt before him, I proclaimed,
“Old Ruler! I have a wish!”
[Oh… Speak… With the power of reversal bestowed upon me… I grant you one right to turn life into death… and death into life… none can evade this power…]
It was the preordained order of things.
‘Alright. We’re all set!’
Once I eliminate the Vermilion Bird, I’ll acquire the secrets of the Heavenly Spirit Pill and nurture the Thunder God Lineage and Jin So-cheong, after which it’ll be easy to wipe out the Master of the White Lotus Sect!
The perfect plan I had meticulously laid out from the beginning danced before my eyes, and I couldn’t contain my excitement. I then spoke,
“Please kill the Vermilion Bird, the Old Sage of Mount Tai.”
As soon as I said that!
For a moment, the Old Ruler recoiled slightly before responding,
[So… do you truly wish to kill that man… Very well…]
Tentacles began writhing from the Old Ruler’s body, reaching into the void. Something like smoke seeped from the air, which the Old Ruler engulfed with the tentacle.
Then, he declared,
[It’s done…]
This occurrence mimicked what transpired when I previously requested the emperor’s assassination. In a moment of hope, I asked the Old Ruler,
“That individual was able to transfer his soul to an extra body. Is there no chance of him coming back?”
[No… I consumed him, so that can never happen…]
Suddenly, I got the distinct feeling the Old Ruler was almost smiling.
[I may not know what his curse is…]
Cursed?
Just as I was about to respond…
“Cough!”
A sudden coughing fit overcame me, and as blood began gushing from my mouth, my eyes, nose, and mouth also erupted with blood. It didn’t hurt much, but being unexpectedly drenched in blood freaked me out.
‘What… What is happening?!’
I felt the strength draining from my body.
Thud!
As I lost my strength and knelt on one knee, the Old Ruler, looking amused, remarked,
[That man had a curse on him; one that forced those who kill him to pay a price… A curse unimaginable by human power… Most likely imbued into his soul with the Sleeping One’s help…]
“W-What’s happening…”
[Such a curse doesn’t affect me, but the one who requested the assassination… is, quite interestingly, you… human…]
In that instant, I could sense how entertained the Old Ruler was.
[How delightful… so amusing…]
Cough! Cough!
‘No… I can’t die like this…’
I still had things to accomplish. I had not participated in training in the Celestial Realm, nor had I learned the secrets of the Heavenly Spirit Pill. I had come so close to the threshold of enlightenment, and to die like this would be ridiculous!
‘No… This can’t be happening…’
Bubble, bubble!
The sound of my brain melting marked my last moments.
That was my eighteenth death.
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